While experimenting with some of the other items that Nan Tian had brought over, Shiro glanced at the reports in front of her. During their downtime, Shiro had used the Argus System to keep a tab on everything happening around the world.
With how the world had changed and how gods are setting up their domains, having Argus record everything was a little difficult. However, thanks to the passive effect that allowed her to look through most barriers, this problem was resolved. Keeping a track of all the gods that were setting things up, she found Zeus's temple to the far west.
She did have the option to attack his temple immediately but the gods were going to descend eventually. Shiro would rather use this time to improve her understanding of Aarim's skill.
As for Aarim, she started a small side project during this time. With her understanding of her own tower and now knowing travel between two worlds was possible, she attempted to establish a connection using the armour pieces that were left over from the knights.
While it may be a two sided connection, they are in a position where they gain more than they lose. Once Shiro learns how to traverse the gap between worlds, it opens up the opportunity to learn new information.
Unfortunately, there were no direct connections but there were progress. A good description would be building a bridge. Right now, Aarim was attempting to line up the start and the end in one go since that's all they can do. They were unable to make progress from the side of creation so all she could do was line things up from their end. It was no easy task but progress was steady.
With both Shiro and Aarim working tirelessly on the experiments, Nan Tian turned into an errand boy who brought them information from outside the room while also making sure everything was running smoothly.
He wasn't too bothered about it and pretty much everyone in Asharia knew that he had become their butler of sorts.
Walking through the streets of Asharia, Nan Tian checked up on some new stores along with helping some major stores resupply their stocks. With how big Asharia was, each section had multiple large scale stores that sold everything from weapons, potions and armours to general wear and food.
Helping the last store resupply their wares, he came across an interesting rumour.
"Sir, have you heard about the cards that made gave you the power of gods?" The shop keeper asked as Nan Tian raised his eyebrow.
"I don't believe I have. Did a new adventurer tell you about it?"
"It wasn't a new adventurer but a veteran. After an excursion outside the city walls, he was apparently approached by a woman that offered him three cards. Each card had a different crest but strangely enough, no one else but him could see the crests. He tried to draw them out but even then, no one could see them. When we used the pen with someone else it was working but it would always be blank when he used it. He hasn't done anything with the cards yet since he's one of the believers that belong to her highness's church but I figured it was something sir would be interested in." The shop keeper explained as Nan Tian nodded his head.
"Indeed. I am rather interested in his cards. Perhaps you are able to tell me where he is right now so that I can ask him a few questions?" Nan Tian asked as the shop keeper pulled out a map.
"His house is here since I've made a few deliveries to his door. As for where he is during the day, he's usually doing the high end dungeons if not clearing a few raids with his group of friends. They should be doing the highest level raid we have in Asharia right now so if you go there in about an hour or so, he should be out. He's called Jacob and he's the highest level adventurer in his party so it'll be easy to spot him."
"Thank you." Nan Tian smiled as this information was quite helpful. If he could find out more information about the gods and how they come to this world, it could give them an upper hand.
"It's no problem. With everything you have done to help us, it's the least we can do as residents in this great city. We are truly thankful to her highness. Without her, a lot of us would be dead by now. So if there's anyway we can help, we will do so to the best of our capabilities." The shopkeeper bowed as Nan Tian nodded his head.
Making his way over to the plaza where all of the doors to dungeons and raids were, he sat down by the main fountain and activated a camouflage skill so that no one notices him.
Looking at how the dungeon system now worked in Asharia, he couldn't help but have a smile on his face. For those that wanted to challenge harder dungeons they would and if it proved to be too hard they could be teleported outside forcefully using a unique item only sold in Asharia. You could document your progress, take recordings of how you did during a raid and improve on it using simulations that everyone have in their homes.
Overall, it allowed levelling up to be safer while not decreasing the experience you would get from the encounter. Compared to what it was before the start of the new age, levelling up and clearing dungeons has become enjoyable for most.
Most did it out of necessity since the higher level you were, the safer it became. Now they could derive some joy from it since the outside world has become bleak.
Time passed quickly and Nan Tian enjoyed the small break he got while keeping his senses on the surrounding area so that he notices when a powerful aura would exit one of the gates. Roughly 45 minutes later, a group of people exited one of the gates with smiles on their faces.
"Captain, I'm pretty sure we've broken a record this time. With how fast we cleared, I'd say we're coming close to the estimated clear time of her highness when she was our level." A red haired woman grinned as the man in front shook his head.
He had a black armoured mask that covered the bottom talk of his face, armoured shoulder pads, arm guards, waist guards and some shin guards. The rest were fabric as he didn't care to protect his chest. As for his weapon, it was a strange spear that seemed to a personal weapon made by Helion.
With short black hair and white highlights, he took of his mask.
"You can't estimate her highness' clear time. Knowing the feats she's capable of, when she was our level she would have cleared that dungeon in one go. She would probably run around and break the walls so that all of the enemies were grouped together then throw out wave after waves of big spells to kill them all along with the boss." Jacob glanced back in seriousness as a guy almost twice his size puts his arms around Jacobs shoulder.
"Aw captain don't be like that. You know her highness is an exception. Everything she does is beyond what's capable for even exceptional people." The guy laughed as Jacob shrugged with a small smile.
"True. Hm?" Noticing someone walking towards him, Jacob stopped walking.
"Surprised you noticed me with this skill active. Though it does make sense considering it's a rather low level skill." Nan Tian smiled with a small wave.
"I happened to have come across a rumour that involves you. If you don't mind, could we have a quick chat?" Nan Tian asked as Jacob gestured for his group to go ahead of him.
"I'll find you guys once I finish talking with Sir."
Once they have left, Jacob turned to Nan Tian.
"Would you like to talk at my house? It's a small place unfit of someone of your identity but it would make things easier since I have a few notes about the cards in my room."
"Sure, whatever suits you." Nan Tian smiled since he was more concerned about the cards.
Making their way to Jacob's house in one of the more expensive districts in Asharia, Jacob quickly went to his room and grabbed the notes before making his way back to the living room where Nan Tian was waiting.
Pulling out the cards from his inventory, he placed them on the table in front of Nan tian.
There were three cards in total made from unknown materials and unsurprisingly, the cards were blank to Nan Tian.
"I had done some research on these cards and figured out who two of the crests belonged too but the third one still remains a mystery. The first card belongs to Tyr, the Norse God of War while the second one belongs to Zeus, Greek God of the Sky and Thunder. As for the last one, there had been no documents of the crest from the books I've read but with the information I've got, I do believe it should be a crest that belongs to a god from a religion that was from another world.." Jacob said as Nan Tian thought about it for a moment before channelling Hemera's blessing to see if he could get a glimpse of the crests.
